Just a Drink
by EndlessExplorer
Summary: Sebastian and Juli end up bumping into one another after the events of TEW2


The bell gave tell to a customer walking in and before she even turned around, the waitress knew who it was. Jug of coffee in hand, the waitress pivoted on her heel and filled a cup, sliding it towards Sebastian Castellanos. Sebastian nodded his head in thanks before lifting the hot mug to his lips. Sebastian was a common sight here in the diner again after he had managed to get his job back as a detective in the KCPD. It was the dark outside so the waitress just guessed that Sebastian must have been working late and had called in for a booster shot of caffeine before going home.

Sebastian looked around at the other people in the diner. A few people were casting glances in his direction, but he chose to ignore them. After bringing Lily home, Sebastian went to some of his old friends in the KCPD and told them about MOBIUS. The difference this time around being Lily and some help from Kidman making his story more believable. The official story being that rather than dying in a fire three years previous, Lily had been kidnapped and experimented on. Sebastian and Kidman had made sure to clear her records from MOBIUS' archives and after the investigation, Kidman was seen as a victim rather than a guilt ridden accomplice. Every member of the shadow organisation that hadn't died because of their chips had been rounded up and thrown into prison, lucky if they even able to see the sunshine for more than a passing minute. Lily and Sebastian had been interviewed by countless newspapers and reporters but after a while they had been left alone. Myra had been buried, and Sebastian was offered his old job back. Myra had saved her family just like she wanted to; but that didn't mean that the loss hurt any less.

Sebastian swirled the last few drops of coffee in his cup before slugging his neck back. Throwing some money onto the counter, he nodded to the waitress to keep the change as he shrugged on his usual tan trench coat. Just as Sebastian was about to leave, he bumped into the last person he expected to.

"Kid?"

Standing there before his eyes was Juli Kidman. She looked exactly the same since he saw her last; leather jacket, scarf, and a dark pair of skinny jeans. Sebastian noticed that Kidman quickly looked surprised before it was replaced by a small smile.

"Hi Seb."

Kidman had no idea what brought her back to Krimson City. It wasn't the weather because that was horrible, neither was it like she had any family there. Well, she didn't think she had any blood relatives there anyway but when you had the kind of family she did; you tended not to care. After the complete destruction of MOBIUS and STEM, Juli wandered around. Moved from place to place, town to town; changing her name to make sure that there wasn't anyone left from MOBIUS tracking her down. After two years of nothing, Kidman had come to the realisation that Myra's plan really had worked. MOBIUS really was dead.

Kidman fired up her car and simply started driving. With no destination in mind, Kidman was surprised to find herself back in Krimson City but this time she had no plan. No kill orders, nothing. She was free from MOBIUS. So that night as she was walking along some street, she found herself outside her old precinct. A lingering sense of guilt festered inside Kidman over the thought of what she had done to her old partners. MOBIUS had almost destroyed them but thankfully Sebastian was far too stubborn for that to happen. Joseph on the other hand was no so lucky. Feeling responsible for his fractured mental state, Kidman had him institutionalised and she still visited him as much as she could. It broke her heart to see Joseph so broken because he was one of her only true friends. On one occasion Kidman had bumped into Mrs. Oda. She wasn't even sure if Joseph's wife had received the letter, she had sent her; pretending to be someone else. Mrs. Oda had noticed her and asked Kidman if she was a friend of Joseph's. Kidman couldn't tell her that she was one of the reasons that Joseph was even in here, playing the role of the lost granddaughter almost perfectly. It always just made Kidman feel worse. Even though at the time it had only been a cover, when Kidman was stuck doing paperwork, Joseph had stayed behind and helped out. Shaking her head, Kidman decided that the last thing Sebastian needed was to see her, so she continued on. Spotting a diner down the street, Kidman decided to grab a quick bite to eat before she found a place to stay for the night. It was an old fashioned diner with a counter top and booths and Kidman liked the atmosphere of the place. Pushing the door open, Kidman lifted her eyes from the floor to meet the one person she was dreading most.

"Kid?"

"Hey Seb."

Neither Sebastian or Kidman really knew what to do. Kidman half expected Sebastian's face to contort in disgust and anger and storm out past her, but he stood there as still as she did. Finally, they both started to move but kept colliding as they tried to walk around each other. Breaching the growing awkwardness between them, Sebastian stopped and gesturing behind him, asked;

"Would you like to grab a drink or something?"

Kidman gave a curt nod before she walked up to the retro styled counter and shrugged off her leather jacket. Sebastian quickly did the same before taking his own seat beside her. Kidman was about to ask for the coffee before two steaming mugs were placed in front of them both. Sliding her hands around the white ceramic, Juli took a silent pleasure in the warmth. Winter was on the way, and the heater in her car could only do so much. Watching her reflection shimmer on the surface of the coffee, Kidman suddenly became acutely aware that her and Sebastian were sitting together in a complete and mired silence.

"So, how's Lily?"

"Good… she's good."

"That's ahh good, I suppose."

"Yeah."

Again, a horrible silence slipped in between them before Sebastian gave a long sigh, followed by a question.

"It's good to see you but what are you doing here Kidman?"

Now that was a great question that even Kidman herself couldn't answer. Why was she here? Why was she sitting beside the man who she had, while at first voluntarily, dragged through two mental hellscapes? Why? WHY? Unable to come up with a proper answer, Juli simply said the first idea that popped into her head.

"I was hoping to join the KCPD again."

Kidman wasn't sure where that had even come from. Sure, if she had the chance, she'd join back up in a heartbeat but the thought of what happened last time she was 'working' as a detective gave Kidman a sour taste in her mouth. Kidman did a lot of horrible things over the years, but the victims of her hunt of Ruvik and Leslie were some of her deepest wounds. It felt crushing, that guilt.

"Don't call me a sceptic Kid, but I have a hard time believing that."

And there it was. That infamous Castellanos eagle eye. When they were still working cases together, Sebastian could always seem to find that hidden angle in people. He could always find something that everyone ese seemed to miss. Kidman had always been impressed with that ability of his. Turning her head so that she could see him, Juli could see Sebastian looking at her. If it was anyone else, Kid would have shot back some insult, feeling like a museum piece out on display, but now Kid was subject to those intense eyes of Sebastian. He was looking for that hidden agenda.

"No really. I was hoping anyway. After MOBIUS, I don't exactly have a job per se… or anything really. They always supplied me with bed, board, and anything else I needed."

Sebastian laid his own hand on Kidman's. Kidman could see a small smile on Sebastian's face and for a brief minute, the dark side of Kid's mind told her that Sebastian was taking some sadistic pleasure from the fact that he seemed to be alright while everything that she owned was sitting downtown in a car. A car that had no fuel on top of everything else. Something clicked with Kidman and she remembered this tactic. Whenever Sebastian was talking to the freshly made widow or victim of some sort, he'd lay his hand on theirs and try to help them smile through the pain. He might have a brutal and sometimes lethal sarcastic side to him, but Sebastian was a good man at heart. Kidman was also surprised with just how nice the simple skin-to-skin contact felt. Sebastian pulled back his hand after a while and already the cold was starting to bite away at her hand, so Kidman wrapped them around her mug again.

"I was glad to see those sadistic bastards die don't get me wrong, I just didn't realise how much of my life seemed to revolve around them. I've been on the run since."

"That's bullshit and you know it. Back when you, me, and Joseph were partners, you were as quick on the draw and as sharp as they come. You may have been put in the KCPD by Mobius, or under order by Mobius but you had the eye for the job Kid. If you did join back up, I'm pretty sure you'd make senior detective within two years."

Kidman was surprised to say the least. She hadn't expected encouragement to come from him. Maybe a 'good luck' or something but here he was, trying to get Kidman back standing on her two feet again. Kidman buried her face in her coffee mug in an effort to hide the faint blush she could feel on her face but judging by the small smile on Sebastian's face, he had already seen it.

"One thing however…"

Kidman arched an eyebrow and swivelled her stool to look at him. Only then did she realise that Sebastian had cut his hair and trimmed his beard. In fact, he looked like a younger man, no dark bags under his eyes and he seemed to have lost the strong tenseness in his shoulders. He looked good, she couldn't lie. Kidman was pulled from her analysis when Sebastian laid his own mug down on the counter.

"If we're working together again, I don't want any of that shadowy bullshit. I don't mean to be an ass but how much of what you told me and Joseph was real? I mean is Kidman your real name?"

She couldn't fault his scepticism. If you had thought you'd known someone only for that person to be almost completely different, you'd start to question things too. Juli took a deep breath to calm her nerves. For some reason, she knew that she could trust Sebastian.

"Juli Silvia Kidman. Born in 1987 to two pieces of human trash. Had a couple of siblings when I was younger, but after I ran away, I never kept in contact with them. Could be dead for all I know. One thing I do know though is that if my parents are alive, they shouldn't be. I had a juvie record, but Mobius burned it. I was a Mobius agent for a while. Killed, stole, deceived and was a general bitch for that organisation for longer than I would have liked, but Mobius wasn't really the kind of club that you could just revoke your membership and leave alive. I even had to track down and kill a runaway agent for one of my first assignments. I've done a lot of terrible things in my life Seb."

"We all have, Kid. I'm not some paragon of justice, none of us are. We've all had to smudge the line when a case needed solving. My old mentor, a crusty old fuck named Charlie. He told me about a time when he was chasing a rapist. Cornered, he shot the bastard in the head, execution style. I.A never called him on it. Everyone knew that it had been done for the greater good."

"You don't get it Sebastian. None of what I've done was for the greater good. I dragged Joseph into a mess that has practically left him brain dead. I've destroyed families for MOBIUS. I almost even did the same to you!"

"Yes, but you didn't. You helped destroy them. You may have made a deal with the devil, but you helped fix that by chopping the bastard's head off."

Sebastian was about to continue when his phone chimed. After taking a quick glance at the screen, Sebastian cursed under his breath before quickly finishing his coffee and grabbing his coat.

"Sorry Kid but I've gotta get home. It was good to see you again."

Juli absentmindedly waved to Sebastian as he threw some money on the counter and headed to leave.

*Some few weeks later*

"Castellanos!"

Sebastian looked up from his desk to see his boss, Sergeant Brimsby gesture him into his office. Sebastian quickly said goodbye to Lily over the phone and headed into the office. Brimsby was a small portly man but a dear friend of Sebastian's.

"I've good news for you Sebastian. No more of your lone wolf bullshit. I got a partner for ya'!"

Sebastian wasn't overly thrilled over the news but that quickly changed.

"Who is it Brimsby?"

"Oh, don't worry, she's someone you know."

The door behind Sebastian opened and Sebastian recognized the voice immediately.

"Kid!"

Sebastian eagerly shook hands with Kidman.

"What's our first case, boss?"


End file.
